In this bp-ICAM webinar Professor Chris Hardacre discussed the wide range of new chemical processes and approaches required to achieve Net Zero using these three main aspects: CO2 capture and utilisation, sustainable hydrogen production and waste plastic deconstruction.
The capture of CO2 has been studied widely using solid and liquid materials. We have utilised ionic liquids (ILs) to reversibly absorb over equimolar amounts of CO2. This high CO2 capacity, paired with a low vapor pressure and increased thermal stability, means that ILs have been proposed as a suitable alternative to the aqueous amine solvents currently used in industrial CO2 capture plants. In this talk, the use of superbase ILs for the capture and utilisation of CO2 will be presented, especially in the presence of flue gas impurities. In addition, the ability of the superbase ionic liquids to activate the CO2 for electrochemical reduction will be shown.
Hybrid heterogeneous catalyst-plasma systems represent an important advance in catalytic reaction engineering, as they combine the advantages of having fast and low temperature reactions from atmospheric non-thermal plasma (NTP) and high product selectivity from the catalyst. These systems have been successfully applied in many reactions, from volatile organic compound (VOC) oxidations and automotive catalysis to reforming and hydrogenation reactions. In this talk, Professor Chris Hardacre presented their use in the conversion of CO2 to methanol and low temperature water gas shift.
The sustainable production of hydrogen is a key step in the transition and accomplishment of Net Zero, especially for the chemical industry. This presentation will focus on two aspects: the efficient purification of hydrogen produced via steam reforming processes and the photocatalytic production of hydrogen from sustainable sources.
The presentation will also discuss the utilisation of ILs for the decomposition of polymers. ILs have been shown to dechlorinate and separate the components of composite materials containing polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The IL process has been shown to reduce the temperature of dehydrochlorination and to improve the product yield compared with conventional processing.
About Professor Chris Hardacre
Professor Chris Hardacre is the Head of the School of Natural Sciences at The University of Manchester and a Professor of Chemical Engineering. He obtained a PhD from Cambridge University in 1994 and moved to Queen’s University Belfast in 1995, where he was appointed as a Professor of Physical Chemistry in 2003. In 2016, he moved to The University of Manchester. He was awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry Encouraging Innovation Award with Merck Chemicals Ltd and was part of the team to win the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Further and Higher Education. In 2013, Professor Hardacre was the inaugural winner of the IChemE’s Andrew Medal for catalysis and in 2022, won the Tilden prize from the RSC. His group has strong research interests in catalysis and ionic liquids. He is a co-PI of the UK Catalysis Hub and is an elected member of the Royal Irish Academy. He has over 500 publications and 11 patents.
